Incumbent BJP president for West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, was re-elected for a second tenure on Thursday. He had filed his nomination papers on Wednesday and was the sole candidate as no one from the senior leadership of saffron party's West Bengal unit came forward to file nominations.
He will continue as the president for another three years.
Ghosh’s re-election comes in the wake of his controversial statement drawing a lot of flak even by senior BJP leaders.
During a rally recently, he had said that anti-CAA protestors were 'shot like dogs' in BJP-ruled states.
"Uttar Pradesh government had not only booked such people but also lathi-charged and shot them like dogs. Similarly, we will also shoot, lathi-charge and book whoever destroys public property in the state," he had said.
Even after his statement received severe criticism, he refused to take it back. “I stand by whatever I had said. It was in favour of the country. Right now Congress and TMC are criticising me but even they have opened fire at protestors in past incidents,” he had stressed.
Ghosh drew flak even from union minister Babul Supriyo who said that the remark was 'very irresponsible of Dilip da'. “BJP as a party has nothing to do with what Dilip Ghosh may have said. It is a figment of his imagination and BJP governments in Assam and UP have never resorted to shooting people for whatever reason. Very irresponsible of Dilip da to have said such things,” Supriyo had said.
Ghosh is credited for the saffron party’s splendid performance in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP won 18 seats in the Trinamool Congress bastion.
